Sunday, August 31, 2008

Cindy emailed a link to Alaska HDTV on February 20, 2008.Watch the video--and note at about 7:12 you can clearly see an Israeli flag in the background and what seems to be an Israeli flag in Sarah Palin's left lapel.

Cindy earlier posted a comment:

Fantastic decision all way around, and best possible choice for Israel and the war on terror in general I might add. (based on her church, since I too attend an Independent Bible church and know well the worldview that goes with that) [emphasis added]

So is Sarah Palin pro-Israel?See for yourself.

(But don't ask about Obama--he's not even into showing off American flags.)

John McCain's decision to select a vice presidential running mate that endorsed Pat Buchanan for president in 2000 is a direct affront to all Jewish Americans. Pat Buchanan is a Nazi sympathizer with a uniquely atrocious record on Israel, even going as far as to denounce bringing former Nazi soldiers to justice and praising Adolf Hitler for his "great courage."

At a time when standing up for Israel's right to self-defense has never been more critical, John McCain has failed his first test of leadership and judgment by selecting a running mate who has aligned herself with a leading anti-Israel voice in American politics. It is frightening that John McCain would select someone one heartbeat away from the presidency who supported a man who embodies vitriolic anti-Israel sentiments.

In reality, Palin's record on Israel, while friendly, is as thin as you'd expect from the first-term governor of Alaska.

RJC spokeswoman Suzanne Kurtz said, however, that based on conversations with Alaska Jews, she's confident Palin is a friend of Israel.

I spoke to two of Palin's Jewish allies in Alaska (of the roughly 6,000 Jews there), both of whom stressed that she'd signed a resolution supporting Israel and Alaska's ties to the Jewish state. (She's pictured above right at the signing.)

The resolution (after the jump) is supportive but unexceptional. Both of the Alaska Jews, rabbi Joseph Greenberg and businessman Terry Gorlick, said she was "conservative" on foreign affairs but that they'd never discussed the details of Israel policy with her.

Gorlick said she had never visited Israel, had promised to visit and recently postponed plans to work on Alaska pipeline issues.

"She's absolutely a friend of the Jewish community in Alaska," he said, adding that she had a "confirmed commitment" to visit Israel.

As Smith notes, the statement put out by the Republican Jewish Coalition never mentions Israel at all--instead noting that:

As governor of Alaska, Palin has enjoyed a strong working relationship with Alaska's Jewish community. She has demonstrated sensitivity to the concerns of the community and has been accessible and responsive.

Hopefully, we will soon be hearing more about Palin's stand on Israel from Palin herself.

...Am I thrilled about this? No. Is this worse than Jeremiah Wright? In its own way, it's not better. Jews don't proselytize and don't want to be proselytized by others. But Brickner is a guest preacher and not the regular preacher. Do I expect Sarah Palin to start proselytizing Jews for Jesus? No. Do I expect Barack Hussein Obama to be influenced by his Muslim upbringing and his Jew-hating Israel-hating preacher? Yes. So are we better off with Obama? Sorry Bob Wexler, but no.

What does Palin have to do to convince Israelis and Jews to vote for herself and McCain? Let's start with disowning that sermon by Brickner, which took place just two weeks ago. Let's continue with hearing more specifics about where she stands on Israel and other issues that are important to Jews. We're listening.

Dixie Yid writes that Rav Itamar Shwartz, the author of the Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh seforim, will be coming to the US next Sunday (September 7th) until the following Sunday (September 14th). His speaking schedule will be:

I speak to my daughter in Hebrew. I brought her to work in New Jersey on Friday and at one point asked her what she thought. Because I want her to understand the flexibility of Hebrew, I said "Mah Choshevet At?" instead of "Mah At Choshevet?" and was corrected by 2 people who said that was wrong.

I did a search and found a book entitled "Mah Choshevet Miri"--and was told that nouns are different from pronouns. Does that make sense?

Bottom line: is "Mah Choshevet Miri" acceptable Hebrew?Exit question: does anyone, anywhere speak/write like that--switching the subject and predicate of a sentence?

Inexperience. Palin has been governor for about two minutes. Thanks to McCain’s decision, Palin could be commander-in-chief next year. That may strike people as a reckless choice; it strikes me that way. And McCain's age raised the stakes on this issue.

As a political matter, it undercuts the case against Obama. Conservatives are pointing out that it is tricky for the Obama campaign to raise the issue of her inexperience given his own, and note that the presidency matters more than the vice-presidency. But that gets things backward. To the extent the experience, qualifications, and national-security arguments are taken off the table, Obama wins.

And it’s not just foreign policy. Palin has no experience dealing with national domestic issues, either. (On the other hand, as Kate O’Beirne just told me, we know that Palin will be ready for that 3 a.m. phone call: She’ll already be up with her baby.)

Tokenism. Can anyone say with a straight face that Palin would have gotten picked if she were a man?

Compatibility. It doesn’t seem as though McCain knows Palin well. Do we have much reason to think they would work well together?

Debates. Maybe, as Jonah said the other day, Biden will look like a bully going up against her—and maybe she’ll shine. But I can think of a lot of other picks who would have been lower-risk.

But more than any other pick McCain could have made, this one will make things interesting.

90% said that should Iran possess nuclear weapons it may sell them, or their technology to terror organizations.

80% said they did not believe Iran was pursuing nuclear technology for sheer ability and that Tehran is likely to make use of it.

Regarding what should be done:

81% said they believed the international community must find a way to stop Iran's pursuit after nuclear technology

62% said they believed the world can still find a diplomatic solution which would make Iran halt its nuclear endeavors.

If a military strike is necessary, who should do it?

55% of those polled said they would support a surgical strike by the US and its allies on Iran's nuclear facilities.

63% of Americans supports a preemptive Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, should the international community's diplomatic efforts to curb its nuclear development fail.

Regardless of what Americans think of what kind of threat Iraq posed under Hussein or whether they think the US should have gone in--a majority of Americans see Iran as a threat and what something done about it--even if they do prefer leaving it to Israel.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Today, any half-failed state can charge us usurious rates for fuel, steal our intellectual property, and undermine our every last UN Security Council effort–and still have George Bush call them a vital partner in peace and prosperity. Ours is the broadest definition of ally in the history of geopolitical interaction.

This may go some way towards explaining why it does not impress people to say that Israel is an important ally of the US. It is a club just about anyone can join these days.

This fact about Israel may not be the best thing for its health, but it is a profound fact nonetheless: A country founded by a people that has for centuries been at the receiving end of the worst of what humanity is capable of, and struggles every day to protect itself from evil while not becoming just another brutal nation, that faces accusations of genocide while in practice restraining its armed forces against civilians more than any other country on earth. It is an impossible and endless balancing act, and in the struggle Israel has managed to screw up its most basic security needs, embroiling itself in a century-long war with no end in sight.

A senior foreign policy adviser to Senator Obama, Gregory Craig, is arguing that the next four years may offer a final opportunity to achieve peace in the Middle East. "This is, maybe, a last chance this next term," Mr. Craig said at a foreign policy forum in Denver yesterday morning. "Not only a last chance for a president of the United States to be relevant ... but for the people in the region to reach an accommodation. ... It's one of these strange situations where we know what the answer is and the idea is getting people to it." Mr. Craig's comments suggest that if the presumptive Democratic nominee, Mr. Obama, wins in November, he would press quickly for talks among Israel, the Palestinian Arabs, and others in the region, such as Syria and Lebanon.

Shmuel Rosner points out this comment by Craig--and gives a list of other famous 'last chances' in the search for peace in the Middle East.

But if Craig really thinks that everyone knows what the answer is, maybe he could explain just what the answer is--you know, for the sake of those of us who are playing at home.

Is the answer to let Palestinian Arabs back into Israel?Is the answer to divide Jerusalem--if so, along what lines?How is Hamas going to be prevented from taking over the West Bank as it has Gaza?How is a PA-controlled state going to survive considering the corruption and incompetence?

Please, Mr. Craig, tell us!We are not so much facing a last chance as possibly Final Jeopardy.

Clearly Luthor is not an adherent of any organized religion. However, Elliot S! Maggin, an observant Jew who is one of Superman's most popular and influential writers, has stated that Luthor is a non-observant Jew. Given Lex Luthor's utter disinterest in traditional organized religion and moral value systems, it is not surprising that his character never refers to any religious upbringing or religious ethnicity.

There seems to be little printed textual support for identifying Luthor as Jewish. But the theory certainly is plausible in a world where many of history's real-life brilliant world-changing atheists (or agnostics) have been Jewish, including Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Franz Kafka, Noam Chomsky, etc. (The obvious difference, of course, is that Luthor is evil while these other individuals, regardless of whether or you agree with them or not, were not evil.)

What's worse, the evidence is both circumstantial and insulting: Gargamel is drawn like most anti-semitic propaganda (balding, big nose), his end goal is money, he's a momma's boy... It's all pretty upsetting. Because Jew or not, someone out there is really bigoted — the creator of the cartoon or the creator of the theory. Probably a little of both really. All of which leaves us with the vague feeling Gargamel may be Jewish topped by the desperate hope that he's not.

Earth to Obama supporters: no one is claiming guilt by association — though willful association with an admitted terrorist would be worthy of noting in a presidential candidate. Obama and Bill Ayers had a working relationship. Yet, Obama claimed Ayers was just "a guy who lives in my neighborhood," and has otherwise minimized the relationship. Aside from the fact that Obama is not telling the truth, which itself is important, the details of the relationship are important.

It was a celebration of Palestinian culture -- a night of music, dancing and a dash of politics. Local Arab Americans were bidding farewell to Rashid Khalidi, an internationally known scholar, critic of Israel and advocate for Palestinian rights, who was leaving town for a job in New York.

A special tribute came from Khalidi's friend and frequent dinner companion, the young state Sen. Barack Obama. Speaking to the crowd, Obama reminisced about meals prepared by Khalidi's wife, Mona, and conversations that had challenged his thinking.

His many talks with the Khalidis, Obama said, had been "consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases. . . . It's for that reason that I'm hoping that, for many years to come, we continue that conversation -- a conversation that is necessary not just around Mona and Rashid's dinner table," but around "this entire world."

When Obama served as a director of the Woods Fund in 2001 and 2002, the foundation donated $75,000 to the AAAN [Arab American Action Network, founded by Khalidi], for projects like an “oral history” project on the “Nakbah,” which translates as “catastrophe,” and is the name Palestinians use for the birth of Israel. Khalidi held a fundraiser for Obama when the latter ran for Congress in 2000...

AAAN co-founder Rashid Khalidi was reportedly a director of the official PLO press agency WAFA in Beirut from 1976 to 1982, while the PLO committed scores of anti-Western attacks and was labeled by the U.S. as a terror group. Khalidi's wife, AAAN President Mona Khalidi, was reportedly WAFA's English translator during that period.

Rashid Khalidi at times has denied working directly for the PLO but Palestinian diplomatic sources in Ramallah told WND he indeed worked on behalf of WAFA. Khalidi also advised the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid Conference in 1991.

The Barack Obama campaign has resorted to a campaign of intimidation and legal threats to convince television stations and the federal government to force off the air an ad by the American Issues Project detailing the link between Sen. Obama and remorseless domestic terrorist William Ayers.

The Obama campaign has been contacting stations running American Issues Project's ad in an unsuccessful attempt to compel them to pull the spot. The Obama campaign also sent a letter yesterday to the Department of Justice asking the government to investigate American Issues Project, its officers, board of directors, and donors. With no success on either front, the campaign has begun running its own ad in response. Notably, this ad fails to dispute a single fact in the American Issues Project's initial ad.

Of course, the bigger a deal Obama makes out of this ad, the more attention it is getting--even by the media. The only question is how much damage will be done to Obama's campaign.

Now there is someone else that is trying to close him down. NeoConstant quotes a message from Harry:

Harry’s Place may be removed (or rather have it’s DNS disabled) after a ‘complaint’ to the company that our domain name is registered with.

We assume after threats were made on the weekend that this ‘complaint’ originates from Jenna Delich or her supporters. Though we have not yet seen the complaint submitted, we assume it runs along the lines that pointing out that Ms Delich linked to the website of a known neo-Nazi figure and former Ku Klux Klan leader is defamatory.

This is extraordinary since Ms Delich has not denied that she circulated links to David Dukes website. There would be no point since the evidence is in the public domain. Nevertheless, a malicious complaint has been made to the company hosting our DNS. We would like to assure readers of Harry’s Place that we are doing everything we can to prevent a disruption, but that - of course - we will not concede any ground. We have posted nothing defamatory, and we stand by the information we have supplied. ISPs often run scared of UK libel law and malicious complaints are thus common. Sadly, it is a well known - and usually successful - way of censoring websites which publish truths that they’d rather not be generally known. We ask our readers and supporters in the meantime to publish this information as widely as possible. The disgraceful tactic of dishonest and malicious complaining should not be allowed to succeed. Those on the UCU list, please also make this know there. Please spread the word. If we go down, email us at harryblog at gee mail dot com for updates. UPDATE: For those who can still see us - we’ve put up an archive of the Delich-related material here, which we will use to post updates on this saga: http://jennadelich.blogspot.com/

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Please be informed that the resume writing class on September 10thhas been sold out!.

...Assad's trip to Moscow comes at a particularly opportune time. Russia is in the process of completing what looks like a successful, contemptuous defiance of international will over its actions in Georgia. In the Caucasus, Moscow has thrown down a direct challenge to the US-dominated post Cold-war international order.

Syria, meanwhile, is part of an Iran-led regional bloc which seeks to issue a similar challenge in the Middle East, albeit on a smaller scale. But Assad is not in Moscow purely to compare notes with the Russians. Rather, his trip has a list of clear and practical objectives.

Naturally, Russia has no intention of staying completely on the sidelines:

What lies behind Russia's growing interest in arms supplies to the Middle East? This is part of a larger picture - Russia's return as a player on the global diplomatic stage. The Russians would like to leverage their supply of arms to Iran and Syria into influence, forming an alternative address for diplomatic mediation - or for help in challenging enemies. Either way, Russia intends not to have its voice ignored. The days when all other countries automatically accepted US predominance on issues of Middle East statecraft have passed.

"One of the things our government won't tolerate -- and after 9/11 our citizens won't tolerate -- is trying to use Americans as punching bags or targets for terrorist acts or mindless acts," Fox said.

The vehicular attack took place in March 2006 on the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill campus. Taheri-Azar drove his rented sport utility vehicle into The Pit, a spot near the university's student union where students were gathered.

The News & Observer said after the attack, which resulted in some injuries but no deaths, Taheri-Azara alleged that it was a response to the U.S. government's targeting of Muslims throughout the world.

Not clear whether the judge saw this as a terrorist act or a mindless act--which seems to be the problem with the 2 similar attacks in Israel.

More gestures to strengthen Abbas - Ynet learns Israel has given full amnesty to 45 additional wanted Palestinians, who can now travel freely without fear of IDF arrest. Others will receive partial amnesty.

Less than 24 hours after the release of 198 Palestinian prisoners as a gesture to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the region to further the diplomatic negotiations – Israel on Tuesday has granted 'amnesty' to dozens of wanted Palestinians.

You know, if all of these releasings of terrorists really had the intended effect of raising Abbas' prestige in the eyes of his people, by now Abbas would be the next Nelson Mandela.

Virtually everyone believes Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili foolishly provoked a Russian invasion on August 7, 2008, when he sent troops into the breakaway district of South Ossetia. “The warfare began Aug. 7 when Georgia launched a barrage targeting South Ossetia,” the Associated Press reported over the weekend in typical fashion.

Virtually everyone is wrong. Georgia didn’t start it on August 7, nor on any other date. The South Ossetian militia started it on August 6 when its fighters fired on Georgian peacekeepers and Georgian villages with weapons banned by the agreement hammered out between the two sides in 1994. At the same time, the Russian military sent its invasion force bearing down on Georgia from the north side of the Caucasus Mountains on the Russian side of the border through the Roki tunnel and into Georgia. This happened before Saakashvili sent additional troops to South Ossetia and allegedly started the war.

Wracked by drought, Iran has turned to the United States for wheat for the first time in 27 years, marking a setback for Tehran's search for agricultural self-sufficiency.

According to a recent US Department of Agriculture report, Iran has bought about 1.18 million tonnes of US hard wheat since the beginning of the 2008-2009 crop season in June.

The number, which has been growing steadily all summer, already represents nearly 5.0 percent of US annual exports forecast by the USDA.

The question though is how to interpret the fact that Iran is willing to buy the grain from the US instead of waiting for the grain to become available from another country. Not surprisingly, there is more than one way of looking at it--

Wachovia's Nelson underscored the tense US-Iranian relationship for many years: "it is still surprising that they are buying wheat from the US instead of waiting to buy wheat from someone else."

Analysts noted that Tehran could have used an intermediary, like Syria, to import US wheat to avoid having the sale recorded in official data.

"Maybe the relationship between Iran and the US is not as terrible as it has been," Nelson said.

On the other hand, maybe Iran is thumbing its nose at the US at the same time that it is buy their wheat:

For Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, a specialist on Iran at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, the US wheat purchase signals "Iran is more interested in showing to its people that it is not restrained by sanctions."

"The real signal is: look, we're doing fine, we can buy wheat from the US!," he said.

The only thing that is unmistakable is the clear failure of Iran's economic policy

"This is a serious setback for Iran from a domestic point of view because they made a big deal about self-sufficiency in grains."

And this time, we are talking about an Iranian failure that no amount of photoshopping can cover up.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

“The project began as a conservation necessity,” Ms. [Pnina] Shor (head of the conservation department of the Israel Antiquities Authority) explained. “We wanted to monitor the deterioration of the scrolls and realized we needed to take precise photographs to watch the process. That’s when we decided to do a comprehensive set of photos, both in color and infrared, to monitor selectively what is happening. We realized then that we could make the entire set of pictures available online to everyone, meaning that anyone will be able to see the scrolls in the kind of detail that no one has until now.”

This is not by itself going to make understanding the scrolls any easier:

Only a handful of the scrolls exist in large pieces, with several on permanent exhibit at the Israel Museum here in its dimly-lit Shrine of the Book. Most of what was found is separated into 15,000 fragments that make up some 900 documents, fueling a longstanding debate on how to order the fragments as well as the origin and meaning of what is written on them.

I remember when I was attending Columbia University hearing about a rabbi at JTS down the block--who spent a lot of time studying the scrolls. He was visiting the home of another member of the seminary and complained about their precocious son who was playing with a puzzle under the table and getting underfoot (literally). When the rabbi complained, the mother retorted: you play with your puzzles and he'll play with his.

Mohamed Habib: Well, there are there those who do represent us, who do that role.

SM: But it’s not CAIR, right? The Council for American Islamic Relations? Many people say that they are your front. Other people say that its ISNA. But back to CAIR, some people from the Muslim Brotherhood have denied having a connection with CAIR. Do they really represent you?

Mohamed Habib: Ehh, this is a sensitive subject, and it’s kind of problematic, especially after 9/11 …

We all know that Israel is constantly being called upon to make concessions in order to bolster Abbas in the eyes of the Palestinian Arabs.

Last year, Israel transfered 4 terrorists over to Jordan to complete their sentences, "in a goodwill gesture to King Abdullah II."

As long as Israel is at it--considering Obama's current problems in the polls, should Israel volunteer to make some kind of concession in order to bolster Obama's prestige in the eyes of the American people?

How about Israel releases Marwan Barghouti as a goodwill gesture so he can join Obama's advisory team?

Our relations with the Muslim world could well deteriorate substantially under an Obama Administration, precisely because Muslims think he might be symaptico, and when he disappoints them (as he must, both because he is not, in fact, a Muslim and because of the imperatives of American politics), they're going to feel betrayed and the impression of him as an apostate enemy of the ummah will spread and deepen. Even a Jewish president would hold less potential for worsening relations because many, if not most, Muslims already think Jews run the country, and would see the election of a President Lieberman, for instance, as merely cutting out the middleman. I don't see this as an important reason to support or oppose Obama, but the idea that his presidency will usher in a new age of harmony with the Mohammedans is malarkey.

That's sounds about right as far as it goes, but I am not clear on how "the imperatives of American politics" presuppose that the US must inevitably disappoint the Muslim world.

What exactly are these imperatives? The need for oil? The need for Muslim goodwill? These are imperatives too and in some ways are more concrete than that the need to defend "the lone democracy in the Middle East." For that matter, what will become of Israel's US collateral once Iraq comes of age and becomes the second democracy in the Middle East?

Anyway, the US is open to pressure from the Muslim world on the best of days, and under an Obama presidency--especially considering the kinds of advisors that Obama has consistently surrounded himself with--is it so obvious that the US would disappoint the Muslim world?

...if anyone -- including, of course, Barack Obama -- thinks that Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is going to play the usual role given to a vice presidential candidate, hatchet man, then the wrong man has been chosen. Biden is capable of the occasional gaffe, the sentence without end, the piquant but (literally) politically incorrect statement such as the one he made during the primary campaign -- Obama is "not yet ready" to be president -- but he has the essential decency that once was commonplace in Washington and now, alas, is taken for weakness and lack of proper fervor. Joe Biden is a gentleman.

(On a side note: one more thing that Obama and Biden have in common--middle names they rarely use.)

The biggest false note in Saturday's joint Obama-Biden appearance was when Mr. Obama said that Mr. Biden will help him "turn the page on the ugly partisanship of Washington." Tell that to Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas or Ursula Meese, wife of Reagan-era Attorney General Ed Meese, whom Mr. Biden drove to tears with one of his ugly Judiciary Committee tirades. Mr. Biden has been in the middle of some of the Beltway's most ferocious partisan warfare.

Given the major foreign-policy challenges currently facing the Bush administration, why is the Secretary of State spending her time on the least profitable of world conflicts, the Graveyard of Diplomats, the Western Middle East?

Maariv correspondent Ben Caspit reports in today's edition that PrimeMinister Ehud Olmert is pushing hard to reach a deal with PA head MahmoudAbbas before he leaves office. American businessman Daniel Abram recentlymet with Abbas a number of times to encourage Abbas to reach an agreementwith Olmert.

According to Caspit, Olmert tells his circle that if he reaches a deal withAbbas "the president of the United States will adopt the wording, the worldwith adopt it, the European Union, also the Arab world. We can tell theIsraeli People that this is what can be achieved after long years ofnegotiations and the Nation will decide."[emphasis mine]

According to Dr. Lerner, Olmert is set on railroading all of Israel into a treaty that they will be unable to avoid:

Olmert intends to create a situation according to which the Israeli public will be put in the situation that rejection of the deal means rejection of a plan already embraced by the entire world - with all the consequences.

It is not completely clear that Olmert is looking at this as a fait acompli, so much as the establishment of the groundwork that will facilitate a treaty. In other words--Olmert is not evil, merely naieve.

If the rest of the world accepts the concept, but the Arab world does not--what is to keep the West from using the wording to force Israel to make concessions in the face of continued Arab intransgience?

Even if the Arab world says it agrees, how is Israel to be sure that this is not lip service of the type we have seen in the past--where public statements in English are contradicted by statements made in Arabic to the general population.

Finally, Olmert seems to forget that he was not elected Prime Minister, his approval rating is in the single digits and he has no mandate. As a lame duck of the worse sort, by what right does he enter into the most complicated kind of diplomacy with limited time and without the trust of the people?

ISNA has never condemned terrorist groups like HAMAS or Hizballah by name. More notably, in June of 1997, two and a half years after HAMAS was officially designated as a terrorist organization by the United States government (and long after common sense and reality indicated as such), top HAMAS official Mousa Abu Marzook thanked ISNA (and several other U.S.-based Islamist and “civil rights” organizations), writing that ISNA supported him through his “ordeal” – Marzook had been detained at JFK airport in 1995 and arrested and the Israelis were seeking his extradition. Marzook wrote that ISNA’s efforts had “consoled” him.

And ISNA's actions have not been altogether passive:

Additionally, evidence has been introduced during the HLF trial which further exposes ISNA’s claim of “unqualified condemnation of all acts of terrorism” as lies, at the same time, undercutting HLF’s innocent claims that the organization only assisted impoverished widows and orphans, and establish long-standing ISNA ties to HAMAS. Exhibits entered into evidence a few days ago at the HLF trial include an expense voucher from the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), an ISNA subsidiary, made out for $10,000 in the name of Musa Abu Marzook, as well as a check drawn on a NAIT account in the same amount made out to Marzook. Another check for $10,000 on the same account was made out to Marzook’s wife, Nadia Elashi. Another check for $30,000 was made out to the Islamic University of Gaza (and has Shukri Abu Baker/OLF written on the memo line), a school long known to be controlled by HAMAS, and which counted such notables as former HAMAS leader Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantissi and current HAMAS leader Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahar as professors, and the recently deposed HAMAS Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh is a former dean of the University.

Emerson is not alone. In January of this year, The Jewish Week carried a letter to Rabbi Eric Yoffie, who also had claimed that ISNA was a moderate Muslim group with which he wanted to form an alliance. The letter was from a number of moderate Muslims who pointed out, in part:

We do not presume to judge the political or theological outlook of Rabbi Yoffie or his organization, except with regard to his and their comments about Islam. We, however, know the Muslim community, worldwide and in North America, and we do not recognize or otherwise support ISNA as a legitimate representative of mainstream Islamic believers in the West.

...ISNA, which URJ has accepted, apparently uncritically, as a “partner,” has a long history of association with extremist trends in Islam. ISNA has served as a front group for Wahhabism, the official sect in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia; the jihadist ideologies originating in Pakistan with the writings of a certain Mawdudi and the Deoband schools in that country — the latter of which produced the Afghan Taliban, and the Ikhwan al-Muslimun, or Muslim Brotherhood.

As in the case of Abbas, here too in the case of ISNA, the term 'moderate' appears to be one of convenience, empty of any real meaning.

It is only natural that Obama would want to take advantage of the Democratic Convention as an opportunity to reestablish his bona fides with the Muslim community, but Obama's inability to discern moderate Muslims from radicals demonstrates a serious lack of judgement, and one more troubling example of the kind of company he keeps.

Across racial and religious boundaries, Iraqi politicians on Saturday bemoaned Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama's choice of running mate, known in Iraq as the author of a 2006 plan to divide the country into ethnic and sectarian enclaves.

"This choice of Biden is disappointing, because he is the creator of the idea of dividing Iraq," Salih al-Mutlaq, head of National Dialogue, one of the main Sunni Arab blocs in parliament, told Reuters.

"We rejected his proposal when he announced it, and we still reject it. Dividing the communities and land in such a way would only lead to new fighting between people over resources and borders. Iraq cannot survive unless it is unified, and dividing it would keep the problems alive for a long time."

If only Israel had opposed the creation of a second Palestinian state--especially in the absence of a peace partner--as overwhelmingly as the Iraqis opposed the separation of Iraq.

● Jordan Threatens Israel Over Jerusalem: Earlier this week Jordan's King publicly embraced Hamas and today Jordan's Foreign Minister warned Israel's Ambassador against a planned archaeological dig in Jerusalem because:"This would also lead to a new violent conflict in the Middle East because Jerusalem is a red...(read more)

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Jordan frees killers of Israeli soldiers

Four Jordanian prisoners handed over by Israel last year to complete their life sentences in the kingdom were released from a jail north of the capital Amman on Wednesday.

The four, who were convicted of killing two Israeli soldiers in November 1990 four years before Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty, received a hero's welcome from relatives as they walked out of Qafqafa prison carrying Jordanian flags.

Jordan's Islamist-dominated trade unions said they were planning a festival later on Wednesday to celebrate the release of the prisoners, who were transferred by Israel in July 2007 in a goodwill gesture to King Abdullah II.

Under Jordanian law, a life sentence is equivalent to 25 years in prison and a "year" of jail in the kingdom comprises just nine months.

Let's see: 25 'years' x 9 months per year = 225 months = 18 years and 9 months. So if the murderers were sentenced in November 1990, they should not have been released until next year: August 2009. Time off for good behavior?

The question is, did Israel know that the terrorists would get off so lightly? Either way, more incompetence.

In the framework of good neighborliness, there is a prohibition of hostile propaganda and negative expression in the countries' laws.

I guess it would be too much to ask that in the interests of goodwill the Jordanians don't celebrate and honor murderers of Israelis?

Back in November 2005--again, after the peace treaty with Jordan was already in effect, The Wall Street Journal focused on the negativity of the Jordanian state-run media:

As for Jordan, the MEMRI media research institute reports that a Jordanian TV station last month aired a series, timed for Ramadan and originally produced by Hezbollah, which tells the story of the Jews, using the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" as its primary source. The Protocols, of course, are among the most enduring anti-Semitic tracts.

Any country that suffers a terrorist attack as grievous as yesterday's deserves sympathy and assistance. But Jordan needs to think carefully about its own part in fostering the culture of hatred in which al Qaeda thrives. [emphasis mine]

It has come to our attention that a controversial program entitled "Al-Shatat" or "The Diaspora" has been broadcast from an independent/private channel entitled "Mamnou'" operating from the Media Free Zone in Jordan, which is not subject to Jordanian Law. The program itself was not broadcast from any Jordanian channel.

"Al- Shatat" drew concerns for inciting hate. Accordingly, the program has been stopped from the private channel as of Tuesday, October 25th 2005. The stoppage was only done through personal intervention of responsible Jordanians.

The Free Media Zone broadcasts different programs through 84 different channels and more channels are expected to emerge from the zone in the near future. The Government of Jordan does not monitor or control the content of any program broadcasting from the free zone, whether it is cultural, political, or otherwise. This is in accordance with the agreement between the government of Jordan and the Media Free Zone which is, in turn, affiliated with the Arab Media Company ART.

"Al- Shatat" is nothing less than propaganda for the purpose of inciting its viewers to violence. According to Arutz Sheva:

The Syrian-produced television series, called "Al-Shatat," includes horrific distortions of Judaism, including the presentation of the use of a Christian child's blood in preparation of Matzah for Passover, as religious necessity. The graphic episode features Jews kidnapping a Christian boy and slitting his throat to drain his blood, and the brutal execution of a Jew by a "Talmudic" court, by pouring boiling lead down his throat. [Warning: The following two video links to the above episodes are very difficult to view: 1) Christian boy, 2) Talmudic Execution] All of the anti-Semitic libels in this series are presented as fact.

Just the kind of country whose leader needs goodwill gestures from Israel.Just the kind of country that Israel should be sending murderers to be imprisoned.

FM Salah Bashir summons Israeli ambassador to protest against reported plans for excavation, construction work near Al-Aqsa mosque compound. Jordanian MP: Dig will lead to new violent conflict in Middle East because Jerusalem a red line for Muslims, Arabs

Officials from Hamas have met with a top Jordanian security official to try to patch up ties soured since 2006 by charges that the Islamist Palestinian group was planning to carry out attacks in Jordan.

Jordan is playing hardball with the Palestinian militant movement Hamas, arresting its members and accusing it of plotting attacks inside the country.

Behind the crackdown is the fear in the kingdom, a close U.S. ally with a peace treaty with Israel, that it is threatened by a rising tide of radical Islam it sees originating from Iran and encompassing its Arab neighbors.

One of the problems with Hasbara (Israeli PR) --no matter how well it is done-- is that Palestinian PR at this point can be encapsulated in a two-word bumper sticker: FREE PALESTINE. Any pro-Israel bumper sticker would be too long, because our PR is not visceral, it is full of explanations, history and dates.

He responds with a bumper of his own--and invites other to suggest their own.

From the Bush administration’s perspective, there is no greater threat to American security than an Obama victory, and an attack on Iran really does carry risks of “instability” that could ricochet back against McCain.

So from an Israeli perspective: are they confident enough of a McCain victory to wait and test his pro-Israel campaign rhetoric--or are they still afraid that despite Obama's current problems he will still be the next president and therefore cannot wait.

Bottom line: which candidate is more likely to supply Israel with the arms she thinks she needs in the current situation--McCain or Obama.

What do you think?

UPDATE: Israel apparently already has one such plane, and is apparently working on a project (The "Green Salad" -- scroll down) for integrating a second one in 2009.

MR. BLITZER: What about that, Senator Biden? You're the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. If you got word from the U.S. intelligence community that Ahmadinejad and his government were on the verge of having a nuclear bomb capable of hitting targets in the region on missiles, what would you do?

SEN. BIDEN: Well, first of all, I would do away with the policy of regime change. What we're saying to everybody in Iran is, "Look, by the way, give up the one thing that keeps us from attacking you, and after that we're going to attack you. We're going to take you down." It's a bizarre notion, number one.

Number two, understand how weak Iran is. They are not a year away or two years away. They're a decade away from being able to weaponize exactly what the question was, if they put a nuclear weapon on top of a missile that can strike. They're far away from that.

Number three, in fact, we're going to -- we have to understand how weak that government is. They import almost all of their refined oil. By 2014, they're going to be importing their crude oil. There's much better ways, if we had to get to the point of being real sanctions, of doing economic sanctions on them forcefully that way. But at the end of the day, if they posed the missile, stuck it on a pad, I'd take it out.

Hmmm, so maybe the reason Obama picked Biden is in order to win the Jewish vote!

But what this is more likely to do is--

Remind people of Obama's promise to do whatever it takes to talk to Iran.

"I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran," Clinton said. "In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them."

Hey, Clinton would attack Iran only for launching an attack on Israel; Biden would attack them for just putting the missile on the pad!

Friday, August 22, 2008

The State of Israel is due next week to release 199 prisoners as a gesture of good will to President Mahmoud Abbas and a signal of confidence in the Palestinian Authority. The Government’s actions signal Israel’s commitment to peace with the moderate elements of Palestinian leadership and demonstrate that gains in a peace process will come about only through dialogue and bilateral negotiation. More information regarding the details and the importance of this prisoner release can be found in Haaretz. [emphasis mine]

So, nu--how is this prisoner release different from all other prisoner releases?Let's go to Haaretz:

Israel's release of 199 Palestinian prisoners as a gesture of goodwill to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "creates pressure on Hamas and is likely to accelerate the negotiations over Gilad Shalit," Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin told the cabinet on Monday.

However, he added, "the gesture will not make Hamas more flexible about its demands, because the organization sees that Israel is releasing prisoners with blood on their hands, which merely causes Hamas to harden its position."

This is not an encouraging start--least of all because Diskin seems to take with his left hand whatever hope he provides with his right. Israel does not expect Hamas to soften its demands. But apparently, somehow Israel is cleverly pushing Hamas towards negotiations over Shalit.

You have to go a little further to see what the Israeli government thinks it is accomplishing:

According to a government source, Shin Bet representatives spoke in favor of the move, on the grounds that it would pressure Hamas to conclude a deal for the return of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.

"Hamas is looking despairingly at how, despite the fact that it holds Shalit, it is not succeeding in bringing about a prisoner release, while Abu Mazen [Abbas], who is conducting negotiations with Israel, is securing a prisoner release," the official said. "It's enough to see Hamas' response to the government's decision to understand the pressure the organization is under."

In other words, Israel is hoping to force Hamas to the negotiating table with the same or increased demands for the release of terrorists with blood on their hands so that Israel can release them and gain Shalit's release.

The Israel Project has released videos, to be shown at the upcoming Democratic and Republican Party conventions, highlighting the values shared by the United States and Israel. This important initiative highlights some of Israel’s scientific breakthroughs in the field of alternative energy. As noted by Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, founder and president of The Israel Project, “Israel and the U.S. have taken important steps to make the world safer through alternative energy.” To watch this video and for more information about alternative energy in Israel, see here.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has made an offer to his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, allowing the latter to counter the US's involvement in Poland by planting Russian missiles on Syrian soil, Russia Today TV reported Thursday.

According to the report, Assad claims that the placing of Russian artillery in Syria provides an adequate response to the US's placement of its own artillery in Poland and the Czech Republic. The news channel did not report Medvedev's answer to the offer.

Robert Farley points out the Israel angle, in which the Russians might “relish this deployment as an opportunity to send a message to Israel” over its close military ties with Georgia. I think “relish” is the right word, and it applies perhaps more to Syria than to Putin. For Damascus, the appearance of having earned another patron will be played to the hilt. For Russia, docking at Tartus is simply another means of issuing a blunt communique to the world, and securing another venue through which to annoy the United States and its allies. It will be interesting to see the U.S. Navy’s response to the presence of a Russian fleet in the Mediterranean.

It would be even more interesting if there was hope that President Bush would reverse his current trend and take some decisive action.

The bottom of the website reads: "Paid for by the Democratic National Committee"--so maybe they can explain a word that appears 5 times. Why should it have been mentioned at all.

And by the way, since when is roast beef on challah, 'a deli special that exudes Jewish power'?

Eric CantorSame Old Republican...

Just Like All the Rest, Cantor Votes with BushCantor Voted With Republicans 92.5% Of The Time In 110th Congress. According to the Washington Post Voting database, Rep. Eric Cantor has voted with the majority of his Republican colleagues 92.5% of the time during the current Congress. [Washington Post Voting Database, 8/3/2008]

Just Like Bush, Cantor Fundraised with AbramoffAbramoff Held Undisclosed Fundraiser for Cantor at Stacks. In January 2003, Abramoff held a fundraiser for Cantor at Stacks. Abramoff said that Cantor would be "the party's most visible liaison to Jewish groups and in my view will be an important liaison to conservatives and religious Christians." At the $500 per plate dinner, Abramoff announced that he would name a sandwich at Stacks after Cantor. However, by June 2003, Cantor had failed to pay Stacks for the cost of the event or disclose any debt owed. Cantor's campaign consultant said that though Cantor was required to disclose any debt owed within 60 days, Cantor was late because he had not yet received an invoice from Stacks. Cantor's consultant said that the invoice had just arrived and that the debt of $1,732.52 was immediately paid. [Forward, 1/31/03; National Journal’s House Race Hotline, 6/20/03]

Cantor Was Actually Around a Lot of Suspicious Abramoff EventsCantor Co-Hosted Improper Signatures Fundraiser With Abramoff. Jack Abramoff and House Deputy Republican Whip Eric Cantor co-hosted a fundraiser for then Rep. David Vitter at Abramoff's Signatures restaurant. In April 2005, Vitter admitted to the Federal Elections Commission that he failed to pay for the expenses for the fundraiser. According to the Times Picayune, Rep. Eric Cantor was "the marquee guest" at the event which sought to raise money from the Jewish community. Both Abramoff and Cantor are Jewish. [New Orleans Times Picayune, 4/16/05, NRCC Events List, www.nrcc.org]

All that Corruption Sure Works Up an AppetiteAt Fundraiser, Jack Abramoff Named Sandwich After Eric Cantor -- Cantor Asked To Switch Sandwiches. "At a January 2003 fundraiser for Cantor, who had just become chief deputy whip, Abramoff unveiled the Eric Cantor sandwich, 'a tuna-based stacker,' which, lamentably, was 'not quite [the] power lunch befitting' the only Jewish Republican in the House. Hence a request by Cantor ... to switch his eponymous sandwich to roast beef on challah, 'a deli special that exudes Jewish power.'" [The Hill, 1/18/2006]

At Least One Person Likes Cantor for VPCantor Posted Articles On His Own Campaign Blog Suggesting a McCain/Cantor Ticket. Cantor posted the following: "RTD Op/Ed: McCain -- Cantor? That's the Winning Ticket -- In case you missed it, Bob Rayner had some nice things to say about Eric Cantor today. 'As a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, Cantor brings the clout and experience on economic and tax issues that many believe McCain lacks. He was a businessman before being elected to the House in 2000 and has been an eloquent spokesman for pro-growth policies ever since.' This Just In: Stuart Roy at The Hill's Pundits Blog agrees." [Eric Cantor for Congress blog post, 4/23/08]

Cantor's Relationship with Abramoff Extends to Abramoff ClientCantor Co-Signed a Letter That Would Protect Abramoff Tribal Client. In 2003, Rep. Cantor co-signed a letter to Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Majority Whip Roy Blunt opposing a plan by the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians to open a casino at a non-reservation site, expected at the time to be outside Shreveport, La., not far from a casino owned by the Coushattas. The letter endorsed a view of gambling law benefiting the Coushattas' desire to block gambling competition by another tribe. The Coushattas were an Abramoff client, and Abramoff lobbied to get the letter organized, signed, and sent to Secretary Norton. According to a report in the Washington Post, the intent of the letter was to protect the income from the Coushattas' casino -- about $300 million a year. [Washington Post, 9/28/04; Chicago Tribune, 1/5/06]

About Me

When I am not blogging at Daled Amos, I am sharing articles and the great posts of others on my account on Google Plus.

I write about the Middle East in general and about Israel in particular -- especially about issues affecting Israel in the Middle East and how Israel is impacted by policy in the current Obama administration.